This paper draws lessons on the central bank underpinnings of money from the rise and fall of the Bank of Amsterdam (1609–1820). The Bank started out as a “stablecoin”: it issued deposits backed by silver and gold coins, and settled payments by transfers across deposits. Over time, it...

Macroprudential policy is increasingly being implemented worldwide. Key questions are its effectiveness in influencing bank credit and substitution effects beyond banking. Our results confirm the expected effects of macroprudential policies on bank credit, both for advanced economies and...

We investigate the evolution of public debt management, the policy behaviour of debt managers, and the impact of debt management on financial stability and monetary policy.The focus is on the euro area. Empirical estimations of a debt management reaction function indicate that the share of short...

Using real-time data from the annual budget over the period 1958-2009, we explore the planning and realization of fiscal policy in the Netherlands . Our key findings are the following. First, planned surpluses are on average unbiased, although they are overoptimistic during the first half of the...

The rise of new forms of private money is reviving a long-standing debate on the appropriate balance between private and public interests in money and payments. The main aim of this paper is to explore an integrated policy analysis of various digital assets that may function as money: bank...

Central banks can operate with negative equity, and many have done so in history without undermining trust in fiat money. However, there are limits. How negative can central bank equity be before fiat money loses credibility? We address this question using a global games approach motivated by...

We investigate to what extent the destination of exports and export composition affect the export performance of euro area countries, using a dataset on exports from euro area countries to their top 20 trade partners for the period 1980-2010. Our analysis shows that European integration has not...